Piggy-backing again :-) In the late 1700's, many houses consisted of a large room with only one chair. Commonly, a long wide board folded down from the wall, and was used for dining. The 'head of the household' always sat in the chair while everyone else ate sitting on the floor. Occasionally a guest, who was usually a man, would be invited to sit in this chair during a meal. To sit in the chair meant you were important and in charge. They called the one sitting in the chair the 'chair man.' Today in business, we use the expression or title 'Chairman' or 'Chairman of the Board..'

Common entertainment included playing cards. However, there was a tax levied when purchasing playing cards but only applicable to the 'Ace of Spades.' To avoid paying the tax, people would purchase 51 cards instead. Yet, since most games require 52 cards, these people were thought to be stupid or dumb because they weren't 'playing with a full deck.'

Interesting timing Jim. Our local news recently reported that Spring, 2021 is the year of our Brood X (or 17 year) cicada emergence. I remember the last time it was supposed to happen and we didn't notice any major eruption in our neighborhood. https://www.phillymag.com/news/2021/01/28/philadelphia-cicadas/ This is a link to a CBS map of the areas involved - https://www.cbsnews.com/news/what-is-brood-x-us-cicada-infestation-coming-in-2021/

I never thought of "devil's advocate" as being on the losing side of an argument but rather taking the position that is less popular as a way to point out the flaws in the popular pov. And that wasn't necessarily being cantankerous, but a useful tool in testing the strength of the argument.